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Analytical Philosophy

Code: 100301 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Philosophy OB 3

Contact

Name:
David Casacuberta Sevilla
Email:
david.casacuberta@uab.cat

Teachers

Jordi Vallverdú Segura

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

It is recommended to have studied History of Ancient Philosophy and History of Modern Philosophy.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This course offers an introduction to one of the main schools of contemporary philosophy: Analytic Philosophy.

We will begin by tracing its historical and conceptual development, starting from the dream of constructing a perfect language and the formalization of thought in logic and mathematics—from Llull and Leibniz, through to Frege, Russell, and Moore. These foundational figures will help us understand the shift from the philosophy of mathematics to the philosophy of language and eventually to everyday philosophical reflection.

We will also explore parallel paths, such as the logical pragmatism of Peirce, and the pioneering contribution of Susan Stebbing, who applied analytic philosophy to public reasoning and democratic education. Through Hilbert and the ambitions of the formalist program, we will reach the crisis of formalization articulated by Gödel, whose incompleteness theorems marked the limits of logical systems.

At the core of the course will be the study of Ludwig Wittgenstein, the most central figure of the analytic tradition. We will examine his two majorworks, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investigations, as well as other texts on aesthetics, ethics, psychology, and mathematics.

We will relate his thought to issues such as language performativity, meaning in use, subjectivity, and value, showing how these ideas remain relevant and influential.

Finally, we will reflect on the contemporary relevance of analytic philosophy, observing how current thinkers continue to apply its tools to address real-world, everyday, and social philosophical problems, including expressive forms such as pop culture and identity discourse.


Competences

  • Act within one's own area of knowledge, evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
  • Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Placing the most representative philosophical ideas and arguments of a period in their historical background and relating the most important authors of each period of any philosophical discipline.
  • Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Thinking in a critical and independent manner on the basis of the specific topics, debates and problems of philosophy, both historically and conceptually.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Applying philosophical rigour in a written text following the international quality standards.
  2. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  3. Carrying out a planning for the development of a subject-related work.
  4. Communicate by making non-sexist, non-discriminatory use of language.
  5. Discriminating the features that define the writer's place in the context of a problem and reorganising them in a consistent diagram.
  6. Distinguishing and outlining the fundamental content of a philosophical text.
  7. Distinguishing the topics of philosophical relevance in current debates.
  8. Expressing both orally and in written form, the issues and basic problems of the philosophical tradition.
  9. Propose projects and actions that incorporate a gender perspective.
  10. Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
  11. Reading thoroughly philosophical texts of the History of Philosophy.
  12. Recognising, with a critical eye, philosophical referents of the past and present and assessing its importance.
  13. Relating the various orders of the philosophical ideas of different authors and historical moments.
  14. Solving problems autonomously.
  15. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  16. Summarising the topics and arguments exposed in a classical philosophical debate.
  17. Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.

Content

 

  1. Introduction: The dream of the perfect language

    • Llull, Leibniz and the idea of a universal language.

    • The birth of symbolic logic and its connections with mathematics.

    • Peirce and logical pragmatism: signs, inference, and logic as a science of thought.

  2. Frege: Logic, language, and the foundations of arithmetic

    • Sense and reference.

    • Logicism and formal semantics.

  3. Russell, Moore, and Stebbing: Realism, logical analysis, and critique of conceptual confusion

    • Critique of idealism and defense of common sense.

    • Russell's paradox and the theory of descriptions.

    • Susan Stebbing: clear analysis of everyday thinking, logic, and democratic education.

    • Foundations for the philosophy of language and rigorous argumentation.

  4. Hilbert and the formalist program

    • The ambition to axiomatize all of mathematics.

    • Consistency, completeness, and decidability as ideals.

    • Influence on 20th-century logic and epistemology.

  5. Gödel: The limits of formalization

    • Incompleteness theorems (1931).

    • Crisis of the logicist and formalist program.

    • Structural limits of symbolic language and formal reason.

  6. The early Wittgenstein: Tractatus and the limits of language

    • The world as a set of facts.

    • Saying versus showing.

  7. Wittgenstein’s Lecture on Ethics

    • Ethics as inexpressible.

    • Value and meaning beyond logic.

  8. The later Wittgenstein: Language games and use

    • Critique of formalism.

    • Philosophy as description.

  9. Ethics, aesthetics, and psychology in the later Wittgenstein

    • Expression, forms of life, and understanding the subjective.

  10. Contemporary relevance of analytic philosophy

    • Recent developments in language, science, and mind.

    • Connections with pragmatics, discourse, and other philosophical traditions.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Discussion in class of required readings. 25 1 2, 5, 3, 8, 17, 15, 13, 14
Lectures. 40 1.6 5, 7, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13
Type: Supervised      
Preparation of presentations/written papers. 30 1.2 2, 5, 6, 3, 8, 17, 10, 11, 15, 12, 13, 16
Resolution of doubts. 19.5 0.78 10, 11, 16
Type: Autonomous      
Required and supplementary readings. 31 1.24 2, 5, 7, 6, 3, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16

 

The guided activities follow the methodology of learning based on the approach and problem solving. These activities are basically of two types:
										
											
										
											 a) Theoretical presentations of the subject with discussion of problems related to it by the teacher.
										
											
										
											 b) Argumentation practices in the classroom through scheduled lectures. The student will have to read texts that will be presented and discussed by all the students in such a way that they capture the main ideas and the internal relations of the text. 

Theoretical and practical classes will alternate throughout the course.
 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Examination on topics 1 to 5 and their required readings. 40% 1.5 0.06 2, 5, 7, 3, 8, 17, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16
Examination on topics 6 to 10 and their required readings. 40% 1.5 0.06 2, 5, 7, 6, 3, 8, 17, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16
in-class contribution 20% 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 6, 3, 8, 17, 10, 11, 15, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16

Continuous evaluation:

The continuous evaluation will be based on (i) the mark obtained in a test of the first part of the course (40% of the final grade), (ii) the mark obtained in a test of the second part of the course (40%), (iii) class contribution (20%).

The exam dates will be communicated in the Moodle calendar with enough time. Students who for ANY reason cannot attend the tests during the course, will do the recovery exam directly. It should be noted that the recovery dates are between June 22 and July 3 and that no alternative dates will be offered to those officially assigned.

At the time of each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) of the procedure and date of review of the grades.

In the event that the student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation act, this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. In the event of several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0.

The student will receive the grade of "Not evaluable" provided that he has not delivered more than 1/3 of the evaluation activities.

The recoverable tests are (i), (ii) and (iii) and will have the same format and weight as the tests of the course (40%, 40%, 20%). 

This subject allows the use of AI technologies as an integral part of the submitted work,
provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution from the student in terms of
analysis and personal reflection.
The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii)
specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the
process and final outcome of the activity.
Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic
dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero.
In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.



Single assessment:

The single assessment will be based on (i) the mark obtained in a test of the first part of the course (40% of the final grade), (ii) the mark obtained in a test of the second part of the course (40% of the final grade), (iii) the mark obtained in a practicalexam (20%).


In the event that the student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation act, this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. In the event of several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0.

The student will receive the grade of "Not evaluable" provided that he has not delivered more than 1/3 of the evaluation activities.

The same recovery system will be applied as for the continuous evaluation. Thus, two tests will be carried out with a weight of (40%,40%, 20%).
 

It is possible that the Department of Philosophy will establish (as was done during the first semester) a period of concentrated assessment tests. At the beginning of the course, it will be indicated whether such a period exists and what the dates of the tests are.

 

Bibliography

1. Required readings (available on the Virtual Campus).

2. Reference books:

Maria Ponte Azcárate, David Pérez Chico & Moisés Barroso (eds.), Plurality of Analytic Philosophy, Madrid: Plaza y Valdés, 2007.

Javier Muguerza, The Analytic Conception of Philosophy, Madrid: Alianza, 1974.

Doxiadis, A., Papadimitriou, C., Papadatos, A., & Di Donna, A. (2022). Logicomix. Vuibert.

Monk, R. (2006). Ludwig Wittgenstein. Anagrama.

Bouveresse, J. (2004). Wittgenstein and Aesthetics. Universitat de València, Servei de Publicacions.

Pears, D. (1987). The False Prison: A Study of the Development of Wittgenstein's Philosophy. Clarendon Press.

Stebbing, S. (1939). Thinking to Some Purpose. Penguin.
(A classic on clear thinking and everyday reasoning.)

Anscombe, G. E. M. (1957). Intention. Harvard University Press.
(A foundational work in the philosophy of action.)

Peirce, C. S. (1992–1998). The Essential Peirce, vols. I–II. Indiana University Press.
(Representative selection of his work on logic and semiotics.)

Dummett, M. (1993). Origins of Analytical Philosophy. Harvard University Press.
(Concise history of the emergence of the analytic tradition.)

Nagel, E. & Newman, J. R. (1958). Gödel's Proof. New York University Press.
(An accessible explanation of the incompleteness theorems.)

3. Online resources:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu

 


Software

None.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed